Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, the King has no clothes...oh, and you're broke!

I came across this article reading from World Net Daily Devvy Kidd's column . Kidd makes the point that I've made for years that taking money from you to give to them is sinful, wrong , evil and immoral. That if the Feds (and states) left us alone, the American people, the most generous people in history, would give to the Salvation Armies of the world that do a FAR better and moral job of caring for the poor than the Feds or states haver ever or could ever accomplish. EVER! Another article about private vs. government charity here and especially here , which is real vs. false, destructive charity.
But, the article I refer to is one that Dr. Walter E. Williams has also written about in this article . The real deficit is not $8,000,000,000,000 . It's so large that estimates run from a low of $37,000,000,000,000 to a high of $75,000,000,000,000. And Social Security is a mere percentage. Medicare and Medicaid are the monsters that will sink us all.And the new Medicare Prescription Drug Act will add another $5-7,000,000,000,000 to that during my lifetime.
All Congressmen (Reps and Senators), all have access to this information. There will be no surprise. It's coming for sure. We've had a few opportunities to stop this. We may, repeat MAY have just one more.
We do have a few lessons from history. After the French Revolution there was an currency (economic) crisis. There was at least one currency exchange. It didn't work. There came a man who promised to end this crisis. His name was Napoleon Bonaparte.
After WWI the huge war reparations were crushing Germany. The government solution? Print more deutsche marks. Inflate their way out of the debt. And inflation reigned down on all the citizens. One incident I read was that a man in Germany had saved enough to send his son to the university. Four full years. When the inflation hit, all his son's college fund could buy was just one meal when he was ready to go to college.
And government is not the solution.That's like asking Ted Bundy to run a dating service.
If you think for a moment that governemnt is the answer, see how the Feds took a recession in 1929 and turned it into a depression here . Oh, and by the way, the same article shows how the Feds brought about the original market correction (called Black Monday, 28 October, 1929). It's a complete read, but well worth the time to set history straight.

And the reason I buy malts is...(or The Republic morphs into a democracy)

I've mentioned Dr. Walter E. Williams many times before (The E. being quite important). He is an economics professor at George Mason University. He has a talent to take complex economic principles and make them fairly simple and understandable.
In his recent article (The consumer rip-off ) he started me thinking about a conversation I had with my deeply committed socialist buddy (his answer to the disaster and economic tsunami called Social Security? An estate tax at 100%. He hasn't come up with a solution to its dwarfing counterpart Medicare...and now its bastard brother the Prescription Drug Act). Anyhow, Dr. Williams talks about the economic concept of large but narrowly defined benefits vs. small but largely dispersed costs. He uses sugar and dairy interests to show that a few people (sugar beet growers and dairy farmers) get huge benefits from price controls and tariffs but we, the consumers, pay more for the products, but not enough for us to organize and change the law. But read the article. He does a much better job.
So, here we have two special interest groups. Groups that work against the interests of you and me. We have to counter with a group that will look out for our interests that will counter these specific assemblages.Which brings me back to my socialist friend.
Painting the walls in his garage a few years ago, we started talking about the Constitution. His take, of course,is that the Constitution is a living document. That the Founders could never have predicted or seen an economy like this, or whatever. I said that the Constitution was never about economics but was about the hearts of men. It was meant to counter the evil tendency of men to accumulate and concentrate power.
We talked about the most infamous tyrants of history (He was shocked when I told him that Stalin killed more people than Hitler. And that 8,000,000 Ukrainians starved to death thanks to the failure of central planning (read concentrated power) under Stalin. And Mao Tse Tung killed more then Stalin and Hitler together, including starving to death 20,000,000 Chinese in the failed Great Leap Forward-central planning). I then asked what did Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Mohmar Khadafi have in common? Centralized, concentrated power. And he had to agree. I then pointed out that he made the comment that we had to get corporations out of government. I said that was simple...get government out of corporations so they don't have to try to protect their interests.

I then asked him a cogent question: Why did people and organizations contribute money to Congressional and Presidential candidates? His answer was that they were trying to buy influence. I asked why were these people and groups trying to buy influence. He responded that they wanted certain things or wanted to change or keep certain programs, and so on and so forth.

I said no, that's not the reason. The reason that these people and groups were trying to buy influence was that there was influence to be bought. That the 10th Amendment was there to make sure that there was NO influence to be bought. That a Congressman could only say to a potential influence buyer "Well, I'll take your campaign contribution, but of course you know that my Oath of Office ONLY allows me to do what's outlined in Article 1, section 8. No dairy price fixing, no sugar tariffs, no honey subsidy, no agriculture subsidies, no welfare payments of any kind, personal or corporate. No corporate regulations, no EEOC, no OSHA, no FDIC, no FICA. So, thank you, with that understanding!" Yah, like that will ever happen. Except with Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas. Read about him here and his columns here ). Dr. Paul is the ONLY Congressman who filters all bills through two layers: Is it Constitutional (meaning he honors his oath of office) and then does it conform to my campaign promises to my constituents?

And so, we now have competing interests that reflect the will of the majority, a democracy, with no Constitutional control. Where the 2nd Amendment is quite clear, I need to ask the government for permission to defend myself. Where the Constitution is quite clear that all taxes are to be apportioned, we have an unConstitutional Karl Marx tax scheme (and read about a REAL shocker concerning the Federal Income Tax read here ( go down to "The Theory" and click on the link "Read the news article..."!). Private property is not private. Their bills and our counter bills and their guys change that bill...and it all becomes jury-rigged in a functional democracy where we constructed to be a constitutional republic.

So, why do I buy malts? Because there are malts to buy because there is a free market for malt suppliers and buyers. And I like them.

However, I buy these malts legally...at least for now.

Separation of Church and State Redux

I received an interesting email today that dovetails into post here regarding the ACLU's perpetual lawsuits against the 10 Commandments. Did you know that each state constitution acknowledges God? That's right....every single state constitution makes some reference to God, thanking God for His blessings and His grace and His mercy....Don't believe me? Try this....

California 1879, Preamble. We, the People of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom...

Connecticut 1818, Preamble. The People of Connecticut, acknowledging with gratitude the good Providence of God in permitting them to enjoy...

Illinois 1870, Preamble. We, the people of the State of Illinois, grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors...

Maryland 1776, Preamble. We, the people of the state of Maryland, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberty...

New York 1846, Preamble. We, the people of the State of New York, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom,in order to secure its blessings...

Pennsylvania 1776, Preamble. We, the people of Pennsylvania, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and humbly invoking His guidance.

and finally our very own Minnesota, 1857, Preamble. We, the people of theState of Minnesota, grateful to God for our civil and religious liberty, and desiring to perpetuate its blessings...

Notice a pattern? All of the states I listed as examples are some of the BLUEST of the blue states and some have been around since the beginning of the country! This, along with the writings of our founding fathers tell us what the ACLU and their supporters choose to ignore...that this country was indeed founded on a Judeo/Christian faith. One thing is abundantly clear to me after reading this. We, the people, in order to maintain this perfect union, need to make sure that we do not allow the ACLU to write God out of our history!

Large government-writ small

Tip O'Neill (former Speaker of the House, now deceased) once said "All politics are local." Oh, how true!
One of my friends is heavily involved in politics in Prior Lake. In the run-up to the last election he and others organized a citizens group that was deeply concerned that the local politicos seemed to have forgotten that they were elected to govern with and for the people, not rule over them. A city hall with a lunch room costing nearly $500,000- an edifice to the magnificance of the reigning elected was one item that stood out to me. The huge run-up in tax revenues (that the locals blame on anything, everyone else save them). It sounded SO much like what happens in St. Paul and Wash.D.C.
My friend told me that when property values exploded (as they are want to do in Scott County) the then city council and mayor just reduced the mil rate so that even with an increase in property values the tax payer didn't pay any more in taxes as the tax rate was cut. Now, that's MY idea of governing wisely. Does anyone remember the huge state surpluses (aka overtaxed) in the late 90's? And Jason Lewis warned us that the state would create new programs to soak up all that extra money. And it was so.And the citizens would then be doubly taxed as they didn't get their money back and would now have to pay to keep ALL those extra programs up and running as we know that programs are never cut nor ever eliminated. And we then had the recent deficits. We have never, ever had a tax problem locally, state-wide or nationally. We have always had a spending problem. We have never, ever, nor will we ever be undertaxed. Ever. Unless you're a left wing weenie. And then everyone else, especially the "rich", are all certainly undertaxed! And then all tax cuts are too large and never warranted and no tax is ever big enough.
And so it will be with all these increased revenues from higher property values. My Mom lives in Hennepin County. And I calculated that she will pay ANOTHER $1,000 in property taxes. She's a widow, in her late 70's. All of her children have been out of government schools for 35 years. And her city built a new city hall reffered to as "The Taj Mahal".
Plus, her city council also passed a smoking ban...and restaurants have been laying off employess ever since. The local school district once had a parking place where I started to park, but it was reserved for the the "Diversity Coordinator".
And do you think, for a moment, that my Mom's city council, or any other city council, will not take the chance to grab more of their citizens' money? Does Dracula ever pass up an exposed neck?
Large government, writ small.
Oh, and by the way, the Taj Mahal is NOT a palace or a residence. It's a tomb. A mausoleum.
Rather fitting, I'd say.

Wile E. Coyote:Genius. And counsleor to Howard Dean and Sen. Reid

I'm a huge Warner Bros. cartoon fan (1956 and earlier only).
So, when I got the following from the WSJ, I read it with great amusement:

Blogger John Hinderaker likened the Dems to Wile E. Coyote, the hapless vulpine Looney Tune whose elaborate schemes to catch the Road Runner always blow up in his face. As the Looney Tunes Web site notes, "Wile E.'s ineptitude, possibly a by-product of his distracted obsession with catching Road Runner, is compounded only by the Acme company's products--which may work for other customers, but seem never to work for Wile E., who repeatedly risks life and limb counting on their effectiveness."

Hinderaker's observation brought a fascinating response from reader Stephen Fossati:

For the better part of ten years I had the privilege of working closely with Wile's creator Chuck Jones and in fact produced and co-wrote Chuck's final Roadrunner cartoon in 1994, so I would humbly offer that I am a fair authority on said erstwhile coyote.

Having spoken with Chuck about Wile more times than I can count, I can say with great conviction that your suggestion that the Murtha, Dean, Kerry, Boxer et al, position with regards to the GWOT and the war in Iraq, is appropriately analogous to Wile and to his inumerable [sic], ill-considered and near fatally-flawed plans to catch the Roadrunner--a good many of which resulted in him falling off of a cliff.

Chuck defined Wile in the words of George Santayana who said: "A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim." Assuming that the Dems' aims are to regain control of the House, the Senate and the White House and based upon their seemingly fevered attempts to discredit President Bush by mis-representing the success of the war, advocating for our withdrawal/surrender, and purposefully undermining our efforts/abilities to wage war on an enemy unlike any we have faced before, I think it's fair to say that the Democrats clearly meet Santayana's definition of a fanatic. And since it is Santayana's definition of a fanatic with which Wile's own creator described him, I would conclude that your comparison of our luckless, over-zealous and too-clever-by-half coyote to the leaders of the Democratic party, is not only correct but painfully (for the Dems), astute.

Hinderaker adds: "Remember how Wile viewed even his misadventures as evidence of his superior intellect?" He reproduces a picture of the not-so-wily Wile E. holding a sign identifying himself as a GENIUS. It reminds us of a DemocraticUnderground post we quoted in 2003:

I would dare to assume that most of us here are in the upper 1%-20% of the population intelligence-wise. We must come to the realization that the majority of the population is in the lower 80% to 99% percent of the bell-curve. WE are not the norm. The Republicans understand that the average American is not very bright. They cater and pander to the masses. The Democratic Party tries to appeal to the population about "issues" that these people just don't understand.

As we noted then, these guys think it an impressive act of cognition to "come to the realization" that the majority of Americans are below the 80th percentile. We like the way that rolls out: Wile (D.) Coyote, Super Genius!

Merry Christmas ALCU!

Well Scrooge visited the ACLU today, in the form of a ruling from the 6th US Court of Appeals. The court was ruling on a case that the ACLU had brought against Mercer County KY. The ruling (reported here) was a complete repudiation of the ACLU and the supposed "separation of church and state". In writing for the 3-0 majority, Judge Richard Suhrheinrich said the ACLU's "repeated reference 'to the separation of church and state' ... has grown tiresome. The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state." Judge Suhrheinrich also wrote that a reasonable person would appreciate the role that religion played as appropriate and that "The ACLU, an organization whose mission is 'to ensure that ... the government [is kept] out of the religion business,' does not embody the reasonable person."

The display in question, featured a copy of the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights and other historical documents, along with the 10 Commandments. Displays such as this have long been considered "acceptable" displays in a government setting.

Kudos to American Center for Law and Justice and their attorneys for fighting for the civil rights of a group of Americans that the ACLU would just as soon strip of their rights. While I have no doubt that this will go before the Supreme Court (2 Appeals Courts have now ruled in favor of this kind of display while one has ruled against it), it is nice to see someone fighting the good fight!

How important is local politics?

Most blogs seem to cover national and maybe state wide politics, but the insanity that pervades national politics can be found even down to the city level. Case in point....

The City Council of Prior Lake Minnesota has been, for the last year or so, embroiled in controversy after controversy. It was so bad, that in the last city wide election, all incumbants running for re-election were defeated at the polls. The newest controversy centers around a decision to back the local indian tribe putting several hundred acres of land into "trust" meaning the land is taken off of the public tax rolls. This led to some rather heated discussions in the letters to the editor section of the local paper (which is where yours truly heard about the brouhaha). The letters lead one city council member to write in to try to defend their vote. Now the letter was your standard "we felt our actions were in the best interests of the city", but what struck me as out of line was when the council member said that the disagreement was serving as a "thin veil of the real underlying problem of racism and socio-economic bias"! WHOA!!!! Well, that has set the local population abuzz anew and I have to agree. Since when does a disagreement over property taxes become a "racial" issue?

This is still playing out and probably will continue to do so until the new city council is seated next month. Meanwhile, you have to ask yourself, how are we ever going to become a "colorblind" society if politicians on all levels continue to play the "race card"every time there is a policy disagreement!

Less than 2.1 means you die...

Though I don't always agree with Pat Buchanan, he wrote a well thought out book "The Death of the West" where he shows that what is happening in Europe is now on our shores.
For a population to maintain itself at stasis it must have a birthrate of 2.1 children. Europe is far below that which means the population is shrinking. And therefore, to maintain all the government entitlement programs Europe has allowed immigrant workers from Muslim countries. These immigrants have not been assimilated, they have kept their own culture, language,identity. And as such you have riots in Paris. This is the end result of multi-culturalism. Human Events has a short but on point article on European multiculturalist tendencies. And the last two paragraphs point out that we are Europe in 40 years.
Victor Davis Hanson is one of my favorite columnists, authors. He is an expert on warfare. He had a three hour interview with Hugh Hewitt on the history of warfare starting with the ancients. He emphasized that the death of the Roman Republic started from within. That the Republic endured because there was common thought,beliefs, culture, language and willingness throughout the Republic. That the common thought,beliefs and culture also was willing to shed blood for the Republic, to fight the enemies of the Republic "over there".That the Republic started to die when the Republic started to allow multiculturalism and the fracturing of commonly held beliefs within and about the Republic.
And I see the same here in America. A soccer game at the Los Angeles Colesium has Mexican flags throughout and the Mexican national anthem is sung. The Star Bangled Banner is booed. When I'm an election judge I see voting signs in at least five different languages.
And the American birth rate in 2003, for the first time in 30 years, was finally at the breakeven level.
And all this is fruit from the left wing tree.

This just in: "New Study Shows Sun Rises in East!"

And I'm supposed to be surprised to read this?
I'm reminded of the quote from a Washington D.C. reporter" How did Reagan win? I don't know anyone who voted for him!"

When diversity leads to destruction

One of my discussion groups was having a conversation on the false diversity of the progressive movement. That lead one of the members of the group to post this original piece. The piece deserves (in my very humble opinion) wider discourse because of the many good points it brings up.

When Diversity Breeds Depravity

by R. S. W.

Looking at the pros and cons of mixed peoples in France, I was reminded that there is diversity ... and then again, there is diversity. There is nothing virtuous about diversity, per se. It all depends on the subject. Not a small point.

A diversity of intellects is often constructive when tackling a problem that requires brainpower, yet a diversity of intellects is often destructive (to smarter ones) when each members must achieve equal performance (see: dumbing-down, outcome-based education).

A diversity of experiences is often wise when facing a unique problem, yet a diversity of experiences is often stupid when the problem can be solved by time-tested methods.

A diversity of spiritual gifts is essential to church growth and wholeness, yet a diversity of spiritual gifts is discouraging an disunifying when some of those gifts are shunned by group members (see prophecy, tongues, faith ... e.g. a prophet is not welcome in his home or in his home town)

A diversity of ethnicities and/or color can make for intriguing chit chat, but ultimately it serves no useful purpose.

A diversity of beliefs about God's character is never a long-term solution ... for missionaries, fine, but not for others

A diversity of cultures -- particularly when forced upon members -- is almost always a loser: often explosive and very destructive. (see Paris today).

A diversity of languages -- when people cannot communicate -- is utter madness, and an abomination to our culture.

Try asking any liberal diversity peddler to distinguish "constructive diversity" from the destructive variety and you will probably be put on the defensive ... with terms such as "racism", "____ phobia", prejudice, hatred, bigotry, etc. What you will almost never hear is a reasonable answer. The diversity being pushed on us today is meant to be divisive. We would do well to learn the lessons of France, soon Germany, and then the rest of Eurabia and Scandarabia.

And the next time you meet someone who assumes moral authority about the virtues of diversity -- and tries to intimidate you with the usual charges -- just ask them to explain why such diversity hasn't worked in other cultures ... and why we should subject our own sons and daughters to that same fate.

I agree with the majority of what the author says here. However, there is one point in particular that I do disagree with. I think that the statement "A diversity of ethnicities and/or color can make for intriguing chit chat, but ultimately it serves no useful purpose." should be restated. For I think that a diversity of ethnicities is ultimately usefull as long as one ethnicity does not try to claim superiority to any and all others! There is much that my Latino culture can learn from a European culture and vice versa. We can trade ideas on food and celebrations and even governance. However when I try to force my Latino culture on someone from France (for example) THAT I believe is what serves no useful purpose, other than maybe irreparably dividing us.

We must, for the sake of future generations of Americans, go back to the "melting pot" theory of America. Yes I am Latina, but I am American first and foremost. My "heritage" is the past that I teach my children about, but their future is America and American culture. We must never subjugate America and American culture to any other culture. If you want a Latino culture, move to Latin America, if you want a French culture, move to France and if you want an Islamic culture, move back to an Islamic Country.

When I lived in Germany (back in the mid 1980's), I spoke the German language, I shopped in German stores and I lived as a German citizen would. This is America. We love people from other cultures coming to our shores. We love to hear about your country and your culture, but please don't try to change ours. You are welcome to stay if you can abide by our culture. If you want your home country, then please move back to your home country. Do not try to remake America in your home country's image!

Purple Fingers and Shoe Leather

I am an election judge here in Scott County. I watch the process. As I think about it, I'm an integral part of the process. I've been put in charge of new voter confirmation and registration in the precincts where I've judged. And I've had people whine that I could not accept their last minute registration (7:55 p.m.) because they didn't bring acceptable identification.
I am not and will not be in favor of the "easy" registration, same day registration, etc. It is terribly fraught with opportunity for fraud ( www.hillsdale.edu/imprimis/2005/July/ ). I want the American voter to honor and so revere the vote that so many have bled and died for that they would drag themselves a mile over hot broken glass to register.
Now, to contrast what happened in Iraq yesterday: the percentages keep coming in between 60-70% of ELIGIBLE voters (whereas in America we have under 50% of REGISTERED voters. If we went with % of eligible voters in America we'd be under 30%). Plus, in America I don't ever remember being afraid of IED's, RPG's, AK-47's, mortars or snipers on my way to the polls.
And BTW, all these people in Iraq WALKED to the polls as no private vehicles were allowed to move.
And what do you think the voter turnout would be if Americans had to expend even a millimeter of shoe leather to vote?

Tookie and me

I was reading and listening to the excuses,rantings, ravings etc from the usual gang of suspects pleading for clemency for Stanley "Tookie" Williams. I wondered how many of those doing the pleading could name even one of the people Tookie was convicted of killing? Hugh Hewitt had on a L.A. prosecutor who went through just some of the evidence in Tookie's case. There is no doubt that he killed at least those four innocent people. And there is evidence that he killed many more. Plus, he was absolutely unrepentant. He never,ever helped the police or the L.A. Gang Task Force in any way to defang the Crips street gang that he co-founded.And as such,he is guilty of what is called felony murder of hundreds if not thousands of people.
Now, all that being said, up until Tuesday afternoon I was against the death penalty. Then I read a very interesting article on Ed Morrisey's column from a prosecutor who weighed in on the death penalty. Now, Captain Ed stated that he is against the death penalty, but printed the prosecutors email anyway. And as I read it, it occurred to me that perhaps I needed to adjust my belief on the death penalty. Read it and see if you might not agree. Also, be sure to click on the links about the studies done on the death penalty: A Prosecutors Rebuttal www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/005937.php

MSM Bias???? What MSM bias?????

This headline from Yahoo News had me laughing at the absolute irony of it.

I have been in a rather long discussion with a pro-life Democrat. His point, to which I agreed, is that if you are going to be pro-abortion then you should be pro-death penalty! OK - that was not the way he said it, but it is the same. He said if you are going to be against abortion then logically you should be against the death penalty! After all, a life is a life is a life right?

He is more correct, and further away from his party than he realizes. The Democratic Party has no problems fighting for a woman's right to kill her unborn baby, or for a husband to starve his wife to death because he says she is brain dead, but then they want to fight for the life of a convicted mass murder. Make no mistake, because of the gang he founded, Stanley Williams was responsible for hundreds if not thousands of murders which qualifies him for the mass murderer tag.

As a Christian, I do realize that there are several Old Testament passages that render this gentleman's argument moot, but that is not the point. The point is the left is only concerned about "life" if it is the life of a convicted felon. Innocent babies...who needs 'em. Handicapped adults???? Ditto. The intellecutual and moral bankruptcy of the left and the MSM apoligists has been on display more than ever before. Will the people of America take notice? I certainly hope so. The fate of this country depends on it!

What We've Accomplished revisited

I hope you saw the Fox News story "Winning Iraq: The Untold Story" shown on Sunday evening. I taped it.And I'd be interested in what all the left wing dweebs would say in response to the incredible things evidenced by the story. And I was watching it, it occurred to me that what we, the United States of America have allowed is the Iraqi people to flourish. That what the soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen have done is allowed what will naturally happened when the government just gets out of the way.
As the Iraqis said, "Yes, it was worth it" and we seem to have the gratitude of a great many of them.
As I've said before, the currency that purchases and ensures liberty is blood. As a Christian I am quite aware that my liberty from hell was bought with innocent blood (that of Christ in case you might be wondering).
And so it is with the currency needed to purchase Iraqi liberty. And the Iraqis have also used much of their own currency in the transaction.
I came across a site that linked to some incredible photos that documented how a small Texas town honored one of the first American casualties.
Please read the email, look at the posted photos and try not to tear up.
www.givemeliberty.org/RTPLawsuit/Misc/SoldierFuneral.htm

Even the Canadians are getting it!

A friend emailed me this story out of the Canada Free Press. The editorial, was speaking about DNC Chairman Howard Dean's fateful radio interview this week where he declared that the "idea that we’re going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is plain wrong." The writer, while taking the obligatory shots at Chairman Dean, writes about more proof of Saddam's ties to the 9/11 hijackers that I was not aware of. He quotes a London Telegraph article that talks about a memo that they had obtained that was from Saddam to one of his lieutenants describing Mohammed Atta's training sessions with Abu Nidal (of Achille Lauro infamy).

"The handwritten memo, a copy of which has been obtained exclusively by the Telegraph, is dated July 1, 2001 and provides a short resume of a three-day ‘work programme’ Atta had undertaken at Abu Nidal's base in Baghdad."

What more proof does the Democratic Party need that Saddam was tied to Al Qaeda? It is obvious that their blind hatred of George W. Bush will not allow them to ever admit that anything he has done is right or good. Therefore they must ignore the facts in order to perpetuate their fantasy that President Bush lied us into this war. The American people need to wake up to this fact before the 2006 mid-term elections and it is the responsibility of those of us who know better to make sure that the word gets out.

And while you are doing that read this Canada Free Press article from Monday December 5. Even they realize that it is NOW time to question their patriotism.

The party of diversity strikes again!

WND reports that a Washington State blogger discovered the most blatent proof to date of Democratic hostility toward Christians. According to Delta Mike Charlie, the Washington State Democrat party was selling a magnetic car sticker of the Christian fish symbol being devoured by flames with the word "Hypocrit" in the middle of the fish! The page in question was changed less than 24 hours after the blogger posted on the offering however, a screen shot of the original page was saved here.

Christian Democrats need to take a long hard look at their party. They need to realize that the activists running the party are openly hostile to people of faith. Once they come to that realization they need to make a hard choice - follow the Democratic Party (which appears to hate them) or follow Christ. It is becoming more and more obvious that the two are parting ways!

Your education system at work

As I said before, I belong to a number of online discussion and debate groups. I also (on occasion) delve into the depths of the fever swap by going to sites like the Daily Kos. During these exchanges, I have noticed many people who are seriously challenged when it comes to spelling. Basic things like interchanging "there" with "their" and "you're" with "your" or "here" with "hear". The basic term (in our office) for that is "spellchecker's revenge". Now, in my on-line exchanges I have written it off as someone who was typing a little faster than their fingers can keep up. Heaven knows I do that on a daily basis. I am so bad, I have been known to go back and proof read whatever it is I am typing 3, 4, or 5 times (and I sometimes still miss something obvious).

However, you can not give the creator of this sign that consideration. Whoever made this sign had to take their time to stencil the letters onto the sign and they still could not correctly spell the simple contraction "weren't"!

This is your MEA run public education system at work. Be afraid for the future of America.

Illegal immigration by the numbers

The Star Tribune printed an article on a report that was released this week that went largely unnoticed. This article talks about what illegal immigration "costs" the state and on what. It cites such things as education and health care costs. Hopefully this means that a policy change is in the works. This is the good news. Now for the puzzling....

"Many communities across Minnesota and the country have concerns regarding illegal immigration," the Republican governor said in a news release. "

Now we all know that Governor Pawlenty is a Republican so what could the author have been getting at? Simple, the writer of the article wants to remind us that this "racist" report came out of a Republican, because we all know how much Republicans hate minorities, right????

Well, arguments have been made that the work that illegal immigrants do is a hedge against inflation. They take jobs that most Americans "don't want", the backbreaking labor of picking vegatbles for companies like Green Giant (in LeSeur MN) for example. Others, like todays follow up article in the Star Tribune, will tell you that most illegal immigrants are hard workers that just want to make a better life for themselves in "the promised land" of America. There is some truth to those statements however, there are also stories out the border states of people afraid to leave their homes along the border for fear of running into armed bands of immigrants. Others tell of livestock slaughtered in the fields for food and fences cut to facilitate crossings. What is the answer? I'm not sure. Completely closing the border is just as bad, if not worse, than completely opening the border. While the President's guest worker program is not perfect, it is a start. We do, for the safety of the country, need to know who is crossing our borders and who is here now. The guest worker program would get a good start on the who is here. If we can control who is coming in going forward, it will help make us safer while still allowing for people like Ramon Leon and my great-great-great grandfather to come here and make a better life for themselves.

What We've Accomplished, part II

About April of 2004, Ted Kopple, to his eternal discredit, mindlessly read a list of all the brave men and women who had died in Iraq. Fox News countered with a story the next week that put these deaths in context. The story was on Fox News Sunday as was introduced by Chris Wallace. Though brief (maybe 7 minutes) it was breathtaking in its breadth. Markets, hospitals, water and sewer, electrical power, schools, etc. were shown to be up and running. The story also included the names of the people who were killed defining these projects.
I emailed Fox and asked that they do this type of reporting at least once a month. Unfortunately they didn't. And yet they were lamenting the fact that Big Media never seemed to report on the incredible accomplishments of the American presence in Iraq.
Well, last night I heard that Fox News had indeed produced another story showing what we've accomplished. The title "Winning Iraq. The Untold Story".
It will be shown again this Sunday, 11 December at 9pm Eastern Time and repeated at midnight. Here is the link www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,177296,00.html .
I heartily recommend seeing this story and taping it.

This man wants to be a Senator???? Part 3

Well, Al is at it again. This time, he claimed on MSNBC's Scarborough Country that the reason that our troops found no WMD's in Iraq was because....ok this is choice.....because Bill Clinton destroyed them in 1998!!!!! I told you it was choice. Even poor Joe Scarborough couldn't believe what he was hearing!

SCARBOROUGH: Oh, good God. You don‘t believe that one missile strike at a camel and a tent destroyed Saddam Hussein‘s weapons of mass destruction?
(CROSSTALK)
FRANKEN: That‘s wasn‘t what they did. As you know, it wasn‘t one missile strike at a camel and a tent. I don‘t know why you feel the need to mischaracterize...
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: Al, are you really suggesting—listen, no serious person could step forward and say...
FRANKEN: No—the Duelfer report said that very thing.

OK - did you get that? According to Al, the Duelfer report said that the WMD's were destroyed by Bill Clinton....but wait - there's more....

SCARBOROUGH: All right, Al, let me ask you this question.
FRANKEN: Yes.
SCARBOROUGH: Let me ask you, if you‘re president of the—because a lot of people want you to run for Senate in a couple of years. If—let‘s say you ran for Senate, became president, and let‘s say you were sitting in the Oval Office.

Oh good Lord NO!!! I don't know if the country could survive a President Franken! Please dear readers, go read the entire transcript and then do whatever you must to help the prospect of Senator Franken to NOT become a reality!

(hat tip to Kennedy vs the Machine)

I am SOOOOO angry

I try not to let the actions of others anger me because I in doing so I relinquish control of my emotions to people I don't know. However, as a parent, this enrages me more than I can begin to express. Fresh on the heels of a Becker County judge releasing Joseph Edward Duncan III so that he can kidnap and rape and murder the family of Shasta Groene, we have another judge in Dakota County releasing another level 3 sex offender back into the community!

I don't understand what these judges are thinking. Do they have children? Do they have daughters? Don't the realize that they are putting their childrens safety at risk? Do they care more about the health and well being of these offenders or their families? What will it take for us as a society to say "enough is enough! Lock these people up and throw away the key!!!!!"?

It is time to reform the judicial election process in Minnesota! We, the people that put these irresponsible judges in the positions that they are in, must know the philosophical and judicial temperment of these judges. If it means aligning them along the "political party lines" then so be it! At least we (the voters of Minnesota) will know what we are getting when we put these judges in office.

(hat tip Captain Ed at Captains Quarters blog)

The cult of Wellstone!

Al Franken picks up a key endorsement in Wisconsin! The Capital Times ("Wisconsin's Progressive Newspaper) has this endorsement of Al Franken's yet to be formally announced candidacy for Sentor Coleman's seat in 2008. To give you a feel for the CapTimes true colors (and they are well to the left of Pravda on the Mississippi!) we have this quote:

"Wellstone's death in 2002 hit Wisconsin progressives every bit as hard as it did our neighbors to the west. Many of us thought we had lost our third senator."

...and then they follow it up with this!

"So it is that, like a great many Minnesotans, we are looking for a suitable replacement for Wellstone to stand against Coleman in the 2008 Senate race."

We, the editorial staff of the Capital Times, are looking for a suitable WHAT?!?!?!?!? Don't you think you should pay attention what is going on in your own state?????

"In many senses, Franken reminds us of an entertainer-turned-politician we did not agree with but whom we had to respect: former President Ronald Reagan. Reagan got deeply involved in conservative politics years before he entered the 1966 California gubernatorial race. Reagan was ridiculed by liberals and many in the media but he beat them every time because he actually understood politics and was firm in his beliefs."

As someone who lived in MadTown in the latter part of the Reagan era I can only say one thing. WHAT A LOAD OF HOOEY! The Cap Times editorial board couldn't say a single nice thing about President Reagan if their lives depended on it. President Reagan was evil incarnate according to the CapTimes.

As many other, more talented writers than I, have pointed out (here, here, and here) the cult of Wellstone! can not deal with the fact that their patron saint is no longer in office. They are desperately trying to resurrect a man whose time has passed. Don't get me wrong, while I vehemently disagreed with Senator Wellstone's politics, I admired the fact that he would give well thought out reasons for his stance - regardless of who was asking. However, they really need to park the bus and move on. Paul is dead and there is no "heir to the throne". Senator Wellstone was one of a kind. You can not replace him.


(hat tip to the Wingman at The Wind Beneath the Right Wing)

Mark Twain and my wishes

I'm a member of GOCRA/CCRN (Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance/Conceal Carry Reform Now). We are the people that after many years, got the Minnesota Personal Protection Act passed. Now, I cringe at the thought that I need to seek and curry the favor of the government to allow me to protect myself.
Whenever I heard and hear the anti-gun Nazis (and I use the term purposefully) I frequently hear their refrain "All we're asking for are reasonable controls and laws." Now never mind that after each and every rights destroying gun control law, they still pick up the refrain for just a few more "reasonable" laws. They are never satisfied. Evil never is.
So, I thought of a rather clever, albeit facetious comeback-"Every evil action started as an evil thought. And with the incredible sway of Big Media, perhaps we need "reasonable" restrictions on the 1st Amendment. Nothing radical, just reasonable."
And it occurred to me yesterday that I got my facetious wish-McCain/Feingold.
"Our troubles would be doubled if only half our wishes were granted." - Mark Twain

When are they going to learn?

This ties in to my post here regarding the spine (and the lack thereof) of the Republican leadership in Washington DC.

Newsmax is reporting (today) on this Cato Institute report on Presidential spending. The report focuses on discretionary spending (non-entitlement spending). The increase in discretionary spending rose 48.5% in the first term of President Bush's tenure! In each of his first three submitted budgets, President Bush requested increases in non defense spending well above baseline levels. According to this Cato Institute report, President Bush's non-defense discretionary spending increased 20.8% in his first three years in office. This data belies the claims of the administrations critics that say that President Bush has "gutted" spending....

Which leads to this wonderful piece in today's Wall Street Journal. Dick Armey (former House Majority leader) writes what should be required reading for every elected Republican official. He writes about the palpable disatisfaction that the Republican base has with the elected leadership - from the President on down!

"In all my years in politics, I've never sensed such anger and frustration from our volunteers--those who do the hard work of door-to-door mobilization that Republican candidates depend on to get elected. Across the nation, wherever I go to speak with them, their refrain is the same: "I can't tell a dime's worth of difference between Republicans and Democrats."

It is refreshing to see that some Republicans are seeing this! I mean the base has been screaming about this for the last 3 years now!

"Our base rightly expects Republicans to govern by the principles--lower taxes, less government and more freedom--that got them elected. "

Another "well DUH" moment!!!!! But here is the money quote:

"What will happen to Republicans if these freedom-loving, grassroots activists don't show up for work next fall?"

This is a question that Ken Mehlman and every state GOP chair across the natioin needs to ask themselves. Then once they answer, they need to start hammering those candidates that are running for election or re-election! The base will NOT support candidates that do not live (and vote) by the basic tenants of the Republican Party platform. Compromise is one thing, capitulation is another. The party faithful will not abide capitulation.

Candidates - ignore the base at your peril. For if you are not there for the base, the base will not be there for you!

Just a LITTLE bit of your poop in these brownies, Mr. Marx

As I was perusing Prairie Pravda (Stribune) this morning, missing the Republican State Central Committee meeting, I came across this headline "Estate paid a whopper tax: $112 Million" (That's $112,000,000) ( www.startribune.com/stories/462/5761059.html ). Seems James Binger's estate paid this amount to the state (and seemingly ANOTHER large amount to the feds). The article goes on to quote his granddaughter referring to this amount AND the current state revenue surplus. Hhmmmm... The government takes it when you earn it, when you spend it, when you save it, when you invest it. And when you die. Will they EVER leave us alone ?
Now, am I even remotely near Mr.Binger's level of earthly wealth? Nah. At least not yet.
But, I still see this as an absolutely shameful circumstance of the collectivist mentality of the empirical government and its supporters.
Mention this article about the Binger estate to people you know and see if they suddenly become the harpies of class envy and the collectivists by what they say in reply.
And BTW, if they do reply that he had so much money, etc, remember that one of the tenets of Marx's Communist Manifesto was the abolition of the rights of inheritance, meaning a death tax of 100%.
So, ask your friends, after their comments, how much of a communist they are?
Oh, and another point in the Manifesto? A progressive income tax.
Ask your friends if the rich pay their fair share of taxes...and see if your friends are at least 20% communist.
And perhaps you.

Speaking of the CIA

The CIA is back in the news....only if you do not get your news from the "usual suspects". Cliff Kincaid over at Accuracy in Media reports on a November 3 Washington Post article (written by Jim Hoagland) about the CIA's plot against President Bush. Now this is something the President's supporters have long suspected, but to have it confirmed....

"The hidden management of the criminal justice process and the news media practiced by spooks in Wilson-Rove-Libbygate is nothing short of brilliant. So you were right to fear the agency. Where else do you think the one-page crime report that triggered the investigation and then the pressure-building leaks disclosing its existence came from?"

So you were right to fear the agency.....shades of J. Edgar Hoover....

Hoagland also declared, "One lesson available in this story is that amateurs are no match for the CIA in disinformation campaigns. The spies are far better at operating in the shadows than you politicians will ever be. They have a license to dissemble."
Let us translate this statement. Hoagland is saying that the CIA lied about the Wilson affair and used it to undermine the Bush Administration, and that the Bush Administration was no match for the liars at the CIA.

There you have it dear readers....the CIA lied about the Wilson affair in order to undermine the Bush Administration. This explains the howls out of the "intelligence community" when Porter Goss came to town. Hopefully he can undo the damage done by a rogue agency that was out of control.

UPDATE and BUMP: - the gentlemen over at Powerline brought this article to our attention today. In it the author details the many CIA "leaks" to the New York Times that lead to the whole "Bush Lied" meme that the left has been hammering the President with. John (at Powerline) rightly concludes that it is time to put the Plame precedent to good use. Let's appoint a special prosecutor to look into the CIA leaks of classified information and prosecute those responsible for the leaks!

The blind pig, the acorn, the ACLU

I need to thank Savage Republican (and a mutual friend) for this one.
He emailed me in a follow-up to my posting "And a pox on your Bill of Rights, I say" or "Papers please" below and let me know of an incident that has Federal ramifications.

Deborah Davis was on her way to work, minding her own business when in a scene out of "The Great Escape" a "security" agent (if ever an oxymoron, this is it) boarded the bus and proceeded to demand that every passenger show ID. Mrs. Davis, having done nothing wrong and a very typical American (even to having a son fighting in Iraq) refused to show ID. Federal agents were called in and she was arrested! And now faces federal charges.
Now, this raises a whole bunch of questions. I will assume that the bus is a government project. Where does a "security" guard get off asking for ID? Especially from all passengers and not suspecting anything? And since when are the Feds to have a say here? I have little or no doubt that there's a law that allows the Feds to intervene. After all, if it's illegal (federally) for me to sell and you to buy an orange that's 3 1/8 in. in diameter, why not this?

Read more here: www.papersplease.org/davis/

Oh, and do NOT give me the phrase "You have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide." Any idea where that phrase came from? It was used by the Gestapo in Hitler's Germany.

Politicizing Intelligence

Much has been made (in recent months) of "slips" in national intelligenc, mostly from our friends on the left. That is what makes this story hysterical. According to this interview, John Fund from the Wall Street Journal reports that Senator Harry Reid made a stunning revelation on TV last week. He reported the demise of one Osama bin Laden! Yes readers, Senator Reid announced to the world that Osama bin Laden died in the Pakistan earthquake. Now I, for one, would be very happy if this were indeed the case, but one has to wonder just where Sen. Reid got that information. After all, this has not been reported in any of the major news outlets and let's face it, the death of the world's most wanted man, would be headline news for days! IF (and this is a big if readers) bin Laden is dead, the only place that Senator Reid would have heard that would have been through confidential (Pentagon most likely) sources. IF bin Laden is dead, why would we not trumpet it from the towers? Several reasons, first and foremost is that this has probably not been confirmed. Why does confirmation matter? Mr. Fund himself said it best when he said "...if it's not true, and Harry Reid goes and claims it, what are the terrorists going to do? That undermines U.S. credibility. They laugh at us. We become the laughing stock of the Arab world, because our officials keep fatasizing about terrorists dying, when they're not. "

Now many people are asking "wouldn't this be considered treason?" The short and sweet answer is not really. While what Senator Reid fits the dictionary defination of treason (a treachery or betrayal of trust) it does not fit the governmental defination that gets you thrown into the penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth Kansas. What this would and should do is to get Senator Reid's security clearance revoked. Considering that Senator Reid felt so strongly about security (when it came to pre-war intelligence) that he was "forced" to send the Senate into a closed session, I find it stunningly stupid of him to have done this.

Doesn't he have something better to do????

Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter is in the news this week, but not for doing his job in DC. No, instead he is looking into the Terrell Owens situation because he thinks that Owens was being treated "unfairly" according to this report from Newsradio KYW in Philadelphia. For those of you who are not familiar with football, Terrell Owens is the supremely talented and troubled wide receiver from the Philadelphia Eagles who was suspended from the team for multiple discipline problems. On November 18, an independent arbitration team sided for the Eagles, saying that the team was within their rights to suspend Owens for the season.

That decision made Sen. Specter "madder than hell." because of the impact that Owens had on the Eagles. Sen. Specter seems to think that this suspension is unfair, that it is "restraint of trade" and called the team's actions ""vindictive and inappropriate."

Vindictive and inappropriate???? Like the vindictive and inappropriate treatment Judge Alito has received at the hands of the Senate Judicary committee? Or maybe the vindictive and inappropriate treatment Brent Kavanaugh, William Haynes and Henry Saad have received at the hands of the Judiciary Committee? Or perhaps the vindictive and inappropriate treatment that James Payne has received at the hands of the Judiciary Committee. Just to remind you Senator, Mr.'s Kavanaugh, Haynes and Saad were nominated to the bench on Feb 14, 2005 and Mr. Payne was nominated on September 29 and they have yet to get a hearing in front of the Judiciary Committee. Judge Alito was nominated on October 31. In November of last year, Senator Specter promised "I am committed, in word and deed, to prompt action by the Judiciary Committee. Last April, I introduced Senate Resolution 327, a protocol to establish prompt action on all judicial nominees. Specifically, my protocol provides that all nominees will have a Judiciary Committee hearing within 30 days of nomination, a Judiciary Committee vote within 30 days of the hearing, and a floor vote 30 days later." What happened to the 30 days to hearing Senator? Mr.'s Kavanaugh, Haynes and Saad were nominated 264 days ago. When are we going to see a hearing Senator? How about the restraing of trade that has been imposed on these nominees?

The American people are "madder than hell" at you Senator Specter. After President Bush's re-election, many (like Laura Ingraham and a large portion of the Republican base) wanted a new Judiciary chairman and others (like Hugh Hewitt) argued that you would do the right thing, now that the election was done. Well here we are 11 months into the second term and what have we gotten??? We are still have judicial nominees (like Sam Alito) languishing in Committee, we have the renewal of the Patriot Act still waiting for action and meanwhile you are trying to play power games with the NFL.

Senator Specter, Mr. Owens is an adult. He knew (or should have known) that there were consequences to his actions. He knew that insulting his team-mates and coaches in the manner that he did would draw the ire of said coaches and team-mates. The NFL arbitrator has spoken...the team has acted well within the boundaries of the contract and the suspension has been upheld. Instead of interfering in the NFL's business, why don't you get back to doing the nations business and get these nominees before the committee and on the bench. You promised the President and your promised the country a speedy process, it is far past time for you to deliver on that promise!

The left and the Military.

I belong to many on-line discussion groups (including this one and if you are a conservative and you like to have fun while exchanging vital information you need to be here). On one of these discussion groups (a debate group for Republicans and Democrats) I had an epiphany.

The discussion started when one of our members (a retired Army Ranger) returned to the group after an extended absense. We have 2 newer members in the group who are your typical liberal....you know "I support the troops bring them home now..Bush lied us into the war...Bush is a moron..." you know the kind. Well one of the libs, in their usual snarky way, asked "where have you been lately that you can't read a newspaper?" I answered that he (the Ranger) had been in Iraq defending his (the liberal) the right to snipe about how bad the military is. Which lead to the lib remarking "well he's not going to like me then is he???" That led to the epiphany! The Dems love to rag on our military and then they wonder why the military does not like them. I posted this in response to his question (names have been removed to protect the guilty and the innocent)...

If you think that ____ is not going to like you because of your stance on the war, you are probably correct...more importantly consider this. _____ is just one soldier - one of many that believes in the mission and believes in what their Commander-In-Chief is doing in Iraq. _____ and the hundred + thousand others over there have a perspective on this that you and I will NEVER have because we have not been in theatre. Of the 150,000 or so troops in theatre, the vast majority believe that their mission is right and just.

So when you and the rest of the anti-war left talk about how this is an illegitamate war, that we have no business being over there, that we were "lied" into the war and that the best way to support the troops is to abandon the mission and bring them home "now!" how do you think those troops are going to react to you and those claims????

Just something I would like you to ponder.....

I think that this is something we should ALL ask the anti-war left to ponder. If you think that this war is a mistake etc, do you really expect the troops to "like" you and appreciate your "efforts on their behalf" when they believe in the mission at hand?

"And a pox on your Bill of Rights, I say" or "Papers please"

Ah yes. the response to the cry "We've got to do SOMETHING
www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/28/D8E5RPBO5.html
To hell with the 1st and 4th Amendment, this will strike pure fear into the hearts of terrorists!
And the quote of note from the article?
"But at the same time, we don't want people to feel their rights are being threatened. We need them to be our eyes and ears."

Well, maybe...

After months of not writing, I found something that prompted me to put fingers to keyboard.
During the Terry Schiavo case, I posted here for the first time. I put in a picture of a 10 year old boy, Joshua Heldreth, being arrested for attempting to bring Terry a glass of water www.savagerepublican.com/www/archive/2005_03_20_archive.php "God's Winnowing Floor").
Well, it's come to my attention that Master Heldreth has had his day in court. This young scofflaw was ordered to serve 25 hours of community service and write a letter of apology to Hospice House Woodside for his egregious behavior.
Here is his letter : www.operationsaveamerica.org/articles/articles/Joshua%20Apology.pdf
Perhaps I should hold out hope for the future...as long as there are children like Joshua around and about.
Oh, and by the way, Joshua is Hebrew for "he saves". The Greek translation for Joshua is pronounced "Jesus".
God does have a sense of irony.

This man wants to be a Senator????? Part 2

I think this is going to be a long running multi-parter.

Al Franken strikes again. This time in New York where he presumed to lecture Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on "judicial demeanor". The New York Post reports that Mr. Franken queried Justice Scalia about the "appropriateness" of hearing the case of someone he had gone hunting with (an obvious reference to the 2000 case Bush V. Gore). When the host of the event (Conversations on the Circle) opened the floor to questions, Franken got up and started lecturing about "judicial demeanor". Justice Scalia retorted (in what sounded to be a classic smack down) that "Demeanor is the wrong word. You mean ethics." He then went on further to explain that "It has never been the case where you recuse because of friendship."

In the quote of the article, Time Warner chairman Dick Parsons later told the Post: "Al was not quite ready for prime time."

So Al Franken thinks he has the gravitas to be a Senator? After this little show, I think Mr. Franken needs to go back to Civics class. My pre-teen has a better grasp on what politics is about than Al seems to have.....

(Hat Tip KvM)

Minnesota Democrats Exposed

MDE over at Minnesota Democrats Exposed is an amazing person. He has access to information on our local politicians that they would really rather he not have. As a result, many people have tried to "out" MDE. Their reasoning is simple....expose his identity and dry up his (or her) resources and thus put MDE out of business.

The latest attempt comes via the weblog Inside Minnesota Politics. Now, IMP does not require registration or subscription. Their content is as available for anyone to peruse as it is here at Savage Republican. MDE has quoted content from their site in the past - all properly sourced as it should be. Well apparently that is not good enough for the operators of IMP and they are suing MDE for "copyright infringement". MDE posted a picture from IMP and sourced it to their site. Then 2 weeks ago, MDE was notified (through his/her hosting company) that a "cease and desist order" had been issued. MDE apologized and pulled the offending picture immediately. Then today MDE was informed that IMP and their lawyers were still pushing for his/her hosting company for his/her identity so that the "proper legal papers" could be filed with him/her!

Now many people blog anonymously for a variety of reasons. Some do so because of safety concerns, so do so because of work "conflicts". Whatever the reason, that person should be allowed to exercise his/her free speech rights anynomously if that is that person's desire. No one should be forced to reveal his/her identity because of some sue happy lawyer.

MDE will be looking for help with his/her legal fund. Hopefully, some of the great legal minds that are affiliated with the MOB (Minnesota Organization of Blogs) will be able to assist MDE in his/her time of need. I hope all of you will support MDE, financially if possible, and with your traffic! MDE has done a fabulous job exposing the Democrats for what they are. Their answer, as always, is to try to stifle dissenting voices. WE CAN NOT LET THEM WIN!

"X" marks the spot

This is by far the funniest story of the year. During the live CNN broadcast of Vice President Cheney's speech on Monday, an "X" showed up across the VP's face. Republican pundits were (rightly) outraged and at first CNN blew it off with a dismissive "This was a technolgical malfunction, not an issue of operator error. A portion of the switcher experienced a momentary glitch." Now I am not by nature a cynical person, but please....can we have a lamer excuse? I mean really....the only network MORE hostile to the Bush Administration than CNN is MSNBC and that is a judgement call! The website that broke the story (The Drudge Report) is reporting today that a control room operator "laughed" when the image first appeared and somehow that doesn't shock me at all.

The blatent hatred of the anti-Bush crowd has reached it's most frantic. The fun thing is, we have another 3 years of this to go. My only worry is that they (they hysterical left fringe) peaks too soon. If they do peak before the '08 election things could be boring for those who make a living at political analysis.

That the legacy media is biased against President Bush is no surprise. What is surprising me is how they are not even trying to hide it. I have no doubt that we will see more and more of the anti-Bush hysteria.

Could it be true?????

According to this report by the AP, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may have been killed by coalition troops in Mosul yesterday. If true, this will definately help turn the rhetorical tide in DC!

Stay tuned....

What a week it was in DC...

The Senate lost it's backbone and House found theirs.

The Senate, in a widely debated vote, defeated a call for setting a withdrawal timetable - then passed a bill that calls for greater accountability on the conduct of the war. Pundits like Hugh Hewitt called it a "vote of no-confidence" and that their timing of the vote was a "slap in the Presidents face". Make no doubt about this, the timing of the vote was intentional! The Senate Democrats (weasles that they are) held their proposal specifically for the day when the President was travelling. However, I can see why the Republican leadership responded in the way they did. The only way for the Administration to win the war of words right now is to take the progress reports directly to the American people and I can think of no better way for the President to take control of the discussion. The Senate redeemed themselves (slightly) when they found the will to cut $50b in earmarked spending.

The House leadership, conversely, finally showed their collective will. When Rep Joe Murtha called for an "immediate redeplyment" of US troops the House leadership said "let's put it to a vote". The Democratic Leadership immediately cried "FOWL" even going so far as to call it "personal attack on one of the best members, one of the most respected members of this House". What a joke! They have been calling for a complete withdrawl ever since Cindy Sheehan appeared on the scene! To call Friday's debate an exercise in hypocricy would be an understatement of epic proportions!

All in all, I think that this week is the beginning of the end for the debate on the war. The Democrats left themselves wide open for this. Their rhetoric (in calling for a withdrawal) lead them to this precipice and the Republicans finally called their bluff. All I can say is, it's about time!

Giving credit where credit is due

Well you have to give Mike Hatch credit. He is persistant if nothing else! Fresh off of his resounding judicial defeat in Rochester we have this. Apparently he is now going after the current MN GOP Chair Ron Carey! Mr. Carey's crime? Advocating for his autistic child. Yes, folks you read right! Based on this article in the fishwrap (which I opined about here)Attorney General Hatch is going after Ron Carey for advocating for his child.

According to the article, " the chairwoman of the Legislative Audit Commission, Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, asked (Legislative Auditor Jim) Nobles to conduct a preliminary assessment of the autism center's books after news reports raised questions about whether the center misspent state money. " After starting his investigation, Nobles told the audit commission Thursday it was unnecessary for his staff to conduct an investigation parallel to the attorney general's.

Sen. Tom Neuville (a Northfield Republican and commission member) expressed "concern" about AG Hatch going after yet another MN GOP Chair and he is absolutely correct! It is obvious to this voter that AG Hatch is simply trophy hunting. AG Hatch wants to be Governor more than anything else - he has said as much - and he has shown that he will STOP AT NOTHING to get to the mansion on Summit Ave.

It is time for the voters of Minnesota to stand up to this obvious abuse of power! I hope you will join me in calling for AG Hatch to cease his investigation and let the non-partisan Legislative Auditor take over any potential investigation. It is also time for the voters of Minnestoa to pay attention. Precinct caucuses are coming up quickly (March 7 2006). AG Hatch needs to be removed from the office that is allowing him to go after his political enemies with such abandon.

Connections

The big news out of Rochester this week that a jury found Ron Eibensteiner (former chairman of the MN GOP) not guilty of arranging an illegal corporate campaign contribution. Do the charges sound familiar dear readers? They certainly should because they are the same charges that Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) is facing.

The charges stem from a note that had the chairman's signature on it thanking lobbyist Ron Jerich for American Bankers (a Florida insurance company) contribution to the party. Company officials admitted that they mailed checkes to both the MN Republican and DFL Parties in the hopes on influencing the 2002 Minnesota Governors race (which Tim Pawlenty won). What the letter did not indicate was the fact (a fact which was key to the trial) that the check was forwarded on per Minnesota law to the RNC. None of the money was ever returned to Minnesota.

The Eibensteiner defense team has stated all along (without much argument from our friends in the local media outlets) that this was a hit job, engineered by Attorney General Mike Hatch in order to further his chances at gaining his "Holy Grail" - election to the Governors office. AG Hatch never disputed that fact.....that is until the day that the verdict was reached! Then all of a sudden we hear (out of the AG's office) that it was "not our trial". DFL Chairman Brian Melendez said (in a Star Tribune quote) that "Mike Hatch was a witness in the case. The Mower County attorney made the decision to prosecute, Hatch did not." One problem with that statement Brian. The "crime" did not take place in Mower County - it allegedly took place in St. Paul at the MN GOP Headquarters. Also, the Mower County attorney was not prosecuting the case - a "special prosecutor" was brought in from....St Paul! Even Ron Jerich (who was a Hatch supporter) said that this should have never come to trial - that the only reason it came to trial was to "get at the Republicans." It appears that, like Ronnie Earl in Texas, the only reason the charges were filed in Mower County is because AG Hatch was able to find a friendly county attorney in a heavily DFL leaning county to file charges. In essense - jury shopping, just like Ronnie Earl.

Many pundits, both in the legacy media and in the blogosphere have made the connection between the two trials. AG Hatch allegedly made the connection in off the record remarks to reporters from KAAL ""You know, and I was just talking about this in the office the other day, no one in the press had made the Austin/Austin connection. You know, Austin Texas and Austin Minnesota. " Well Mr. Hatch, I hope the two are indeed that connected. Because if there is an Austin/Austin connection, then Rep. DeLay should have a field day when he gets his chance at trial. For if Ronnie Earl did his homework as shoddily as AG Hatch did, the Rep. DeLay should be cleared and back in DC in time to save us from the weak kneed leadership that has taken over in his absense. Hurry up Hammer - we need you now more than ever!

Just another day....

It was just another day in the Lady Logician's life.....I was doing laundry and preparing to start supper all the while reminding the dear child to finish his homework. I had the radio on in the background, tuned into Hugh Hewitt's first hour. OK - Hugh is talking about Senator Reid railing about Vice President Cheney again....nothing new right????? Coming back from commercial they are playing the 3 Stooges theme....The 3 Stooges theme?!?!?! Now he has my attention. This is what Hugh was talking about. Senators Reid, Durbin, Schumer and Stabenow have sent a letter to the President asking him to "rule out the option of a pardon" for Lewis (Scooter) Libby. Pardon me (pun intended) Senator Reid, Senator Schumer.....did I miss something like a conviction here????? I could have sworn the man had not even gone to trial yet....aren't we jumping the gun just a little????? Hoping for a kangaroon court are we?????

"He (Reid) challenged the president in personal terms, urging him to "avoid falling in the footsteps of his father who pardoned six men, some were convicted, some were indicted in the
Iran-Contra scandal."

President Clinton also pardoned a bunch of people too as I recall. He pardoned some 140 people including Susan McDougal (Whitewater Scandal), HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros (lied to the FBI), first brother Roger Clinton (convicted of drug charges), CIA Director John Duetsch (faced criminal charges in connection with his having national secrets on his home computer) and Marc Rich (big time Clinton donor who was indicted of tax evasion ). More details can be found here. The Presidential pardon is a controversial privilege of office. Asking this President to forego that privilege is pandering, political posturing. In a situation like this (where they are in essence demanding that the President bow to the whim of the people that lost the last election) one has to wonder what, if anything, these Senators are willing to give up. Are they willing to give up their privilege of Advise and Consent on Presidential appointments? Somehow I think not. So their grandstanding goes....the Senate Democratic leadership preens before the fawning press and makes a request which the President will (if he is wise) dismiss out of hand.

Teaching our children to hate....

I have tried really hard not to add yet another voice against Islam. It is not the those voices are wrong, necessarily, it's just that there are so many of those voices, that my one small voice would just add to the cacophany. However, after seeing this story, combined with the non-stop coverage out of Paris - where Muslim youth are rioting against the government, I really have to wonder what they are teaching their children.

The story talks about a childrens program that glorifies homicide bombing. The cartoon was shown in Iranian National Television recently. It appears to be part of the campaign that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has launched - a campaign calling for the complete destruction of Isreal. It tells the story of two young boys, Abd and Karim, who are taught by an older neighbor how to rig themselves up with explosives in order to "Go and show the Zionists how brave and heroic are the children of Palestine."

As the mother of a son, it breaks my heart to see this. I can not help but put myself in the shoes of a mother over there. Would I really rejoice if my son blew himself up in order to kill others? No. But there are those who do. I guess this really does go to show how different our cultures are. Where we teach our children to respect others and to look out for others, another parent is teaching his child how to hate those who are "different" (not Islamist).

How does all of this tie into the riots in Paris? Again, these young people, most of whom have lived their entire lives in France, were taught to hate their home country. They were taught this by their parents and by their Imams. Which leads me to this question? If you hate the country so much, why did you move there? Now I know that there are those who will say that they moved there in order to "Islamicize" the country. While I don't know if that is indeed the case (for I do not know what is in their hearts) I have to conclude that this may be the case, just by looking at their actions.....

Look what happens when we teach our children to hate.